High-heel shoes

ABSTRACT

The present invention is intended for use in the high/superhigh-heel shoes. The suggested high-heel shoe comprises a support surface for a wearer&#39;s foot comprising a toe portion for receiving a toe portions of the wearer&#39;s foot, a forefoot portion for receiving a metatarsal area of the wearer&#39;s foot, a midfoot portion corresponding to location of midfoot area of the wearer&#39;s foot, and a heel portion for receiving a heel area of the wearer&#39;s foot. The forefoot portion of the support surface in zone of its transfer to the midfoot portion comprises two areas located at different distances relative to the support surface plane: a little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area and a big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area. A distance of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area to the support surface plane is at least 5 mm larger than a distance of the big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area to the support surface plane. Besides, a surface of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area surface is shaped in such a way that at least in one point of it the tangent to the line formed by its intersection with the plane (II) parallel to the plane (I) perpendicular to the support surface plane and passing through the most remote from each other points of the heel portion and the toe portion of the shoe is inclined relative to the support surface plane to an angle not more than 10° in absolute magnitude. Moreover, a tangent in the heel portion to the midfoot portion area transition zone to the line formed by intersection of the support surface with the plane (I) perpendicular to the support surface plane and passing through the most remote from each other points of the heel portion and the toe portion of the shoe is inclined relative to the support surface plane to the angle not exceeding 15 The shape of the foot bearing surface of the suggested shoe improves wearing comfort of the high/superhigh-heel shoes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the light industry, in particular, to the shoes for women, namely, to the high-heel shoes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

On the basis of various studies it was found that regular use of high-heel shoes results in negative changes in operation of the locomotive system, cardiovascular system, respiratory and urinary systems, brain and spinal cord. Some of these changes, for example, Achilles tendon shortening, are a direct consequence of the leg position in the high-heel shoe and does not depend on the shoe design. Some other changes, for instance, load concentration on front part of a foot, especially, on the foot anchorage under a big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation, and as a consequence, transverse platypodia and hallux valgus, circulatory disturbance due to soft tissues compression/expansion, can be mitigated and even eliminated by changing form of the base portion of shoes and improving its supporting comfort.

Various solutions are known designed to improve the comfort of wearing high/superhigh-heel shoes.

For example, a shank for medium/high-heel shoes is known according to RU 2438542 C1, providing an improved comfort of shoes, that comprises a single-piece front portion, located at the level of the fascicular plantar area upper plane, a rear portion, located on the inclined heel upper surface, and a middle portion, connecting the above two portions and curved in accordance with a sole shank area shape.

Also, a high-heel shoe is known according to RU 2432890 C1, designed to obtain a greater comfort and better wearing. This shoe comprises a support surface for a wearer's foot comprising a toe portion for receiving a toe portions of a wearer's foot; a forefoot portion for receiving a metatarsal area of the wearer's foot; a midfoot portion corresponding to location of a midfoot area of the wearer's foot; and a heel portion for receiving a heel area of the wearer's foot. In addition, the shoe contains a foot central part support element manufactured from a conformal or compression-damping material of a certain compression deformation factor. The said support element is located in the middle section of the shoe and has a convex shape, so that its outline and height are sufficient to ensure contact and supports for the central part of the wearer's foot in order to provide a rounded support transferring a load from the fascicular plantar area to the central and heel parts of the wearer's foot.

However, in the known solutions the main load is born by the support surface under the big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation, resulting in deformation of both foot and shoe toes, as well as in instability of the foot, because small vertical offsets of the body weight force can lead to significant increase of the muscle efforts required to maintain equilibrium.

FIGS. 1 and 2 schematically show the main foot support zones and the forces acting on the foot in these zones in the known high-heel shoes.

The main foot supporting zones 1, 2 and 3 are located in different planes not parallel to each other. Two of them (zones 2 and 3) are not parallel to the bearing surface 4, which leads to generation of the displacing forces F_(d3) and F_(d2) in the heel area and in the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation area correspondingly. These forces are partially compensated by the friction forces, and by muscular forces of the foot are partially transferred to the top of the shoe. The toe part of foot is pressed into the shoe toe by these forces, which results in deformation of both the toes of the foot and the toe of the shoe. Horizontal projections of the above-mentioned forces tend to rotate the foot inside relative to the support surface (the phenomenon known as “clubfoot”). Vertical plane projections of the above forces are trying to turn the foot out in its ankle joint (the phenomenon known as an “ankle turn”). Maintaining of a straight vertical position requires tension of the muscled compensating the said forces. The main load is carried by zone 1 supporting the big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation. Transfer of the load to the heel area of user's foot is difficult because with increasing load on the heel the displacing force also increases, compensation of which requires additional muscle tension. It should be noted that in the traditional high heel shoes the foot often loses contact with the shoe in the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation support area, which reduces the overall stability of the system.

An object of the invention is elimination or mitigation of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the known solutions, i.e. increase of high/superhigh heel-shoes wearing comfort by means of redistribution of loads acting on various sections of the foot bearing surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This aim is achieved with a high-heel shoe comprising a support surface for a user's foot comprising: a toe portion for receiving a toe portions of a wearer's foot; a forefoot portion for receiving a metatarsal area of the wearer's foot; a midfoot portion corresponding to location of a midfoot area of the wearer's foot; and a heel portion for receiving a heel area of the wearer's foot. According to the invention, the forefoot portion of the support surface in zone of its transfer to the midfoot portion comprises two areas located at different distances from the support plane area: a little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area and a big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area, wherein a distance of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area to the support surface is at least 5 mm larger than the distance of the big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area to the support surface, and a surface of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area is shaped in such a way that at least in one point of it the tangent to the line formed by its intersection with the plane parallel to the plane perpendicular to the support plane and passing through the most remote from each other points of the heel portion and the toe portion of the shoe is inclined relative to the support surface to an angle of not more than 10° in absolute magnitude.

Location of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area is substantially horizontal (i.e., parallel to the support surface), and making this area elevated relative to the big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area provide for a full contact of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area with the support surface.

Besides, the shape of the supporting surface for the wearer's foot better corresponds to the foot anatomy, therefore, increasing a foot to support surface contact area, which improves a foot on shoe pressure distribution uniformity. In addition, position of the foot is statically balanced, there is no turning and displacing forces, and small movements of the body weight force vertical are compensated by a redistribution of the load between the support surfaces.

Preferably, a tangent in the heel portion area to midfoot portion area transition zone to the line formed by intersection of the support surface with the plane perpendicular to the support surface and passing through the most remote from each other points of the heel portion and the toe portion of the shoe is inclined relative to the support surface to the angle not exceeding 15°.

This allows increasing the load share carried by the heel area of a wearer's foot, which helps to reduce the displacing and/or rotating forces acting on the foot, and, therefore, no additional efforts are required to compensate them, which further improve comfort of using the shoes.

The present invention is illustrated by the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic presentations in different projections of a static position of foot in the high-heel shoe of the traditional geometry;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are the same schematic presentations, but for the high-heel shoe in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is the shoe according the present invention, perspective view with the conventionally removed top of shoe;

FIG. 6 is the shoe with a received wearer's foot, side view with a longitudinal section passing in the region of a big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation;

FIG. 7 is a section by plane II on FIG. 5; and

FIG. 8 is a section by plane I on FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As schematically shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the main foot supporting areas 1, 2 and 3 of the shoe are located in different planes, but they are parallel or nearly parallel to the plane 4 of the support. Slope angle of the heel support area 3 is small, so small displacing force is compensated by the friction force.

FIG. 5 demonstrates the high-heel shoe according the present invention with conventionally removed top of shoe. The shoe comprises a support surface for a wearer's foot including a toe portion 5 for receiving a toe portions of the wearer's foot, a forefoot portion 6 designed to receive a metatarsal area of the wearer's foot, a midfoot portion 7 corresponding to location of the midfoot area of the wearer's foot, and a heel portion 8 for receiving a heel area of the wearer's foot.

The forefoot portion 6 of the supporting surface in the zone of transition to the midfoot portion 7 contains two areas located at different distances relative to the support surface plane 4: a little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area 9 and a big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area 10. The little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area 9 is located at a distance L₁ from the support surface plane 4 (see FIG. 7); the big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area 10 is located at a distance L₂ from the support surface plane 4 (see FIG. 6), wherein the distance L₁ is larger than the distance L₂ at least for 5 mm. Since the surfaces of the areas 9 and 10 must correspond the shape of the foot parts they support, and are substantially not flat but concave double curved surfaces, the distances from each of said areas 9 and 10 to the support surface plane 4 are measured from this plane to the nearest to it points of these surfaces of the areas 9 and 10.

Besides, the surface of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area 9 is arranged in such a way that at least in one point of it a tangent to the line formed by its intersection with the plane II parallel to the plane I (see FIG. 5), perpendicular to the support surface plane 4 and passing through the most remote from each other points of the heel portion and the toe portion of the shoe is inclined relative to the support surface to an angle α not exceeding 10° in absolute magnitude (see FIG. 7).

Moreover, a tangent in the heel portion 8 area to the midfoot portion 7 area transition zone to the line formed by intersection of the support surface with the plane I perpendicular to the support surface plane 4 and passing through the most remote from each other points of the heel portion and the toe portion of the shoe is inclined to the angle β relative to the support surface plane 4, not exceeding 15°.

Thus, the main foot bearing surfaces are located in different planes, but in fact, are parallel to the support surface. Slope angle of the heel portion surface is small, so said displacing force is also small and is compensated by the friction force. Herewith, compared to the known shoes, the heel portion 8 of the present shoe is carrying a higher load. Load transfer to the heel area of the foot does not present any difficulties, because the displacing force is small. Besides, increase of heel load results in increase of the friction force, which compensates the displacing force.

Using of the shoe in accordance with the present invention provides for the following benefits:

-   -   full support of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation         zone;     -   statically balanced position of the foot;     -   additional loading of the heel, substantially eliminating the         turning and displacing forces, that require extra efforts for         their compensation;     -   increase of foot to support surface contact area, because the         shape of the support surface better corresponds to the foot         anatomy, which, in turn, improves a foot on shoe pressure         distribution uniformity.

As a result, the shoe according to the present invention provides a bearing comfort, mitigating the problems arising in the process of wearing high/superhigh-heel shoes. 

I claim:
 1. A high-heel shoe comprising a support surface for a user's foot comprising: a toe portion for receiving a toe portion of a wearer's foot; a forefoot portion for receiving a metatarsal area of the wearer's foot; a midfoot portion corresponding to location of a midfoot area of the wearer's foot; and a heel portion for receiving a heel area of the wearer's foot, wherein the forefoot portion of the support surface in zone of its transfer to the midfoot portion comprises two areas located at different distances relative to the support surface plane: a little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area and a big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area, wherein a distance of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area to the support surface plane is at least 5 mm larger than a distance of the big toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area to the support surface plane, and a surface of the little toe metatarsophalangeal articulation zone supporting area is shaped in such a way that at least in one point of it the tangent to the line formed by its intersection with the plane parallel to the plane perpendicular to the support plane and passing through the most remote from each other points of the heel portion and the toe portion of the shoe is inclined relative to the support surface plane to an angle of not more than 10° in absolute magnitude.
 2. The shoe according to claim 1, wherein a tangent in the heel portion to midfoot portion area transition zone to the line formed by intersection of the support surface with the plane perpendicular to the support surface plane and passing through the most remote from each other points of the heel portion and the toe portion of the shoe is inclined relative to the support surface to the angle not exceeding 15°. 